NYPL Point Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers

This sixth edition of Point, titled Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers,  is based on an exhibition of the same name, curated by Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf and Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins, on view at The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture from February through July 2013.


As generals, commanders, admirals, prime ministers, and rulers, East Africans have greatly distinguished themselves over the centuries in India. They have written a story unparalleled in the rest of the world—that of Africans, many of them enslaved, attaining the pinnacle of military and political authority, not only in a foreign country but on another continent.